Windswept Grasses

Hello all!  I'm here with another grassy creation, this time playing with mostly PaperArtsy goodies - some of Lin Brown's gorgeous stamps, Fresco paints, and one of Seth Apter's Wood Chip shapes.

It was a pleasure to bump in to Seth himself at the PaperArtsy stand - lucky timing as I was heading off for the day and only stopped in a second time for a quick goodbye.

He wasn't demo-ing at that point but we did have a lovely chat (mainly about New York), and I was extremely happy to head home clutching a set of his Wood Chips to play with.

(There's another project coming up using some of the rest, but it's for a specific DT commitment, so I can't share it for a little while yet.)

We're photo-heavy today, so pull up a chair...











This is created on one of That's Crafty's MDF tags - a regular size #8, so it's 6.5 x 3.25 inches, or 16 x 8cm if you prefer. 













Having the hard surface means you can layer on paint and mediums to your heart's content, which is just as well, as this went through several mutations before I was happy!











There were a couple of layers of Fresco paint just to start with - French Roast underneath and then mostly using Green Patina, Midnight and Key Lime from Seth's paint sets (thought I should, since I had the wood chip to play with!).

Then I thought I'd use some PaperArtsy Crackle Glaze, so that was another couple of layers.










And then it was all a bit too bright so I softened it with some Snowflake and Buff washed on quite lightly.

In the end, I'm absolutely thrilled with the soft weathered crackle look, especially with the sanding around the edges to reveal some of the previous layers.











I've been aching to play with Lin Brown's fabulous grassy stems.  I've stamped this one in Olive Green Archival.

And I've combined it with some of Sara Naumann's detail images. 














I love the numerals stamped in Snowflake.













The Postcard lettering is done in Broken China, I think (I went through several stampings).















In the end, it has softened away into the background, but there's an echo remaining.







The chipboard grass stem - so delicate, and a lovely 3D echo of Lin's beautiful stamp - is by Polish company Scrapiniec.

They have many gorgeous designs, so be warned - temptation abounds if you visit.  (Many designs are also available at Noor Design and from the Mixed Media Place if you don't fancy tackling the Polish site.)









I've left it basically unaltered, though I did make sure it caught a touch of white spatter right at the end.
















So, to Seth's wood chip circle frame... This also went through a number of layers but being wood, obviously, it can take it!












It had the Green Patina and the Midnight Frescos in the mix somewhere early on...

.... though I finally ended up with Snowflake and Buff with some DecoArt Crackle Glaze over the top...















... and then a touch of Antiquing Cream in Patina Green added, dried and wiped away to define the cracks even further.














You'll see that my favourite dried stems are providing a third version of meadow grasses to the piece.















I'm finding them hard to resist at the moment.  (They were clambering all over my Tiny Greenhouses too.)













Some fine twine echoes the circular frame in a loose, rustic way.














And some delicate buttons (also, I think, by Scrapiniec)...















... do the same in miniature.  The recurring circles create a pleasing harmony for the eye amidst all the windswept grasses.
















The same fine twine adorns the top of the tag.

I did have an Idea-ology Word Band in place originally, but happily my lucky prize package from Simon Says Stamp arrived just in time for this Quote Chip to take its place... much more satisfactory for the lighter than air look of this windswept tag.










I hope you like it.  I certainly had a lovely time creating it, and working with MDF and wood gives the whole thing a lovely sense of permanence despite its ethereal appearance.

I did have real trouble trying to work out which photos to share though... I love it in the bright sunshine as you get lots of life and depth from the shadows.  But it's difficult for the eye to see what's going on if you're meeting it for the first time.










In the softer light, you get to see far more of the crackle detail on the hoop and in the background, as well as seeing each of the grasses more clearly.  I couldn't decide, so you're getting it both ways to finish off the post!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I hope your week is going well, whatever you're up to.  I'll be back soon with something completely different!

When they would return to one another from their solitariness, they returned gently as dew comes to the morning grass.
From The Address of Happiness by David Paul Kirkpatrick





I'd like to play along at Frilly and Funkie where the aim is to "Welcome, Spring!"
At the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge they'd like us to Make Your Own Background
At Mixed Media World this month Anything Mixed Media Goes, so I'd like to share this there too